He battles it out on the pitch at the weekends, but during the week Dublin hurler Michael Carton throws his energy into fighting fires.

The GAA star (30), who is the star of tonight's episode of RTE's Firefighters, has worked for the Dublin Fire Brigade for the past seven years and revealed that he loves his dangerous job for the same reason he loves hurling.

"I think it was the whole idea of working as a team that got to me," he told the Herald.

Despite not knowing anyone working in the fire brigade, the O'Toole's player admitted it was always his dream to work in the line of fire. "As cheesy as it sounds I've always wanted to be a fireman," he said.

"It's an exciting job so you never know what you're going to be doing each day. It's lived up to everything I imagined.

"Growing up I played every single sport I could and it's all about the team dynamic, you can't really beat it."

Tonight's episode of Firefighters, which airs at 7pm on RTE1, shows Michael and his colleagues coming face-to-face with a massive house fire, and despite the stress of putting his life on the line for work, it's worth it for the Blanchardstown man.

"I've seen some horrific scenes and witnessed awful fatalities, but as a group you get through it," he said.

"The good ones always outweigh the bad ones.

"If you get to save a child or rescue someone from a fire it will always beat anything sad."

HURTING

Putting his body on the line in both work and sport isn't an issue for the 30-year-old, who says he isn't worried about hurting himself.

"I could injure myself crossing the road," he said.

"If it happens it happens, and if it does I'll deal with it then."

"Touch wood I've been lucky to stay mostly injury free."

With Dublin facing Galway in the first round of the Leinster Hurling Championship this Sunday, Michael admitted he's looking forward to returning to Croke Park.

"It's a huge game, but we're all really looking forward to it," he said.

"At the moment I'm just focusing on this week's training and enjoying the build up, and hopefully we'll win on Sunday.

"Since Galway joined Leinster there has definitely been a rivalry building up. They're a very good team and it'll be a real test for us," he added.